HOW TO GET THAT NEXT PM JOB

Transcription

1 HOW TO GET THAT NEXT PM JOB Shreyas Doshi Product Google 1

2 Goal: actionable steps that will increase your chances of getting the right product management job 2

3 Disclaimer: Opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. They don t necessarily reflect the views of my employer 3

4 4

5 3 key lessons learned from hiring and getting hired: 5

6 6

7 1. building credibility before you even walk through that door => priceless 7

8 2. PM roles usually require prior experience: the catch-22 8

9 9

10 3. job hunting makes you smarter 10

11 So, what are hiring managers looking for? 11

12 take a step back: what does a product manager do? 12

13 Marty Cagan the product manager is responsible for discovering a product that is useful, usable, and feasible 13

14 Shreyas addendum: 14

15 the 5 essential attributes of PMs: 15

16 1. has product sense 16

17 product sense = the ability to usually make the right product decisions - both macro and micro 17

18 2. is smart 18

19 3. gets things done 19

20 4. is a culture fit 20

21 5. has technical skills technical skills = has domain expertise + understands technology 21

22 Good PM 1. has product sense 2. is smart 3. gets things done 4. is a culture fit 5. has technical skills 22

23 the search: 23

24 where to look for PM jobs 24

25 the usual places... btw, LinkedIn works pretty well for PM jobs look and apply for new positions every day 25

26 start-up job search tip use crunchbase 26

27 Read more at: 27

28 start a blog if you don t have one 28

29 the accidental A/B test 29

30 30

31 31

32 A: more interesting conversations, references to blog posts, higher success rate 32

33 B: lower success rate 33

34 but, I can t think of any topics to write about 34

35 observation: compared to other fields, theres almost no info. on the web on the practice of product management 35

36 36

37 the search: transitioning into product management from other roles 37

38 first, be sure that you ll enjoy product management 38

39 39

40 40

41 talk to at least 8 product managers about the good and (especially) the bad 41

42 still want to do this PM thing? 42

43 splendid. so what is the best place to go to become a PM? 43

44 wrong answer: business school 44

45 don t fall for the deferred life plan the MBA first, PM next mindset is harmful 45

46 X an MBA degree is not an escalator. its a door-knob 46

47 confirm if your MBA expectations are realistic spend at least 20 hours with the best, free career research tool on the planet 47

48 ? 48

49 49

50 50

51 what is the best place to go to become a PM? 51

52 right answer: your current company 52

53 get hands-on PM experience at your current company. get the skills and perspective you ll need for people to take you seriously when you apply for PM jobs How? 53

54 observation: PMs are superbusy people and can always use help from capable coworkers 54

55 1. approach your PM - offer to help out be specific about what you ll do, for how long, what the goal is 55

56 2. shadow PMs at their core team meetings 56

57 3. you already work on a product. become the biggest source of ideas for that product. implement them become hard to ignore 57

58 wait... this is too much work isn t there an easier way? 58

59 its about being resourceful which is a key quality of PMs so treat this as a test of your PM-suitability 59

60 4. take a (good) PM class. esp. useful for learning the PM vocabulary for your future interviews 60

61 do this for at least 6 months highlight this experience during your job search more doors will open for you now 61

62 the resume: 62

63 1. the Summary is important for the go/no-go decision keep it short and real if you have technical background, mention it 63

64 remove the buzzwords e.g. fortune 500, synergies, C-level, CxO, product management executive, team player, crossfunctional, strategically strategizing the strategies.. 64

65 impress with facts, not with big words that make you look important (because they don t) 65

66 Bad: a visionary product management executive with vast strategic experience driving operational efficiencies at Fortune 100 enterprises with C-level visibility 66

67 ?? 67

68 Better: 5 years of experience building enterprise monitoring products for companies such as IBM, HP, Applied Materials. Products generated more than 200 million revenue 68

69 2. Don t write everything about your product and everything you did 69

70 three bullet points max: 70

71 3. include hooks - things that pique the reader s curiosity and become conversation points during the interview 71

72 e.g. 72

73 4. include links e.g. info about your product, or link to the product itself, or even your blog posts 73

74 radical idea - include a small screenshot of your most important product 74

75 5. clearly highlight career wins e.g. promoted to Group PM within X years, given Y additional responsibility 75

76 the interview: 76

77 the 3 types of PM interview processes 77

78 78

79 79

80 80

81 the categories of questions in PM interviews: 81

82 1. product-sense questions 82

83 2. product management basics 83

84 e.g. what does a PM do what are the key challenges of the PM job how to prioritize features 84

85 3. process-related 85

86 e.g. how to manage a complex launch how to deal with a difficult team member 86

87 4. past projects or products 87

88 e.g. why did you choose X over Y how did you deal with Z failure 88

89 5. brain teasers/problemsolving 89

90 e.g. Joe s weight: 140 lbs weight of each stone: 5 lbs how can Joe get 3 stones across a bridge that can only take 150 lbs of load? 90

91 6. domain expertise 91

92 e.g. how is company X positioned vs. company Y what are the 4 key pain points for customers in our vertical 92

93 7. understanding of technology 93

94 look familiar? 94

95 95

96 on technical questions: observation: engineering usually has huge say in the hiring decision 96

97 you must be able to explain the basics of the technologies your product depends on 97

98 e.g. for consumer-internet http, ssl, dns, html, ajax, javascript, cookies, GET, POST, web servers,... 98

99 bad idea: saying i am a business person. next question please as a PM, technology is your business 99

100 on product-sense questions: e.g. your favorite product and why compare facebook and twitter 100

101 101

102 true success = interviewer has learned something new from you today 102

103 on product exercises: some examples write a mini-prd draw rough wireframes present a proposal on X 103

104 tips for success in product exercises: practice is key 104

105 Mark Twain It takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech 105

106 1. clarify the objectives 2. cover the top issues first, then go into detail 3. show options considered 4. point out drawbacks of your choice okay to say i don t know 106

107 practice - corollary: if you *absolutely love* a particular company, wait a bit before interviewing there 107

108 you ll get noticeably better after your first 2-3 interviews elsewhere ensure you re interviewing with that dream company after that 108

109 finally, you must know the company s products really well. come up with ways you d improve them. but you will be lacking a lot of context, so be aware of that 109

110 the choice: 110

111 congratulations, you have some offers 111

112 choose carefully 112

113 some PM jobs that (usually) suck 113

114 114

115 1. the PM without any engineers 115

116 Corollary: the PM who s not in-charge of an actual product 116

117 117

118 2. the PM in a company that doesn t consider engineering as a core strength 118

119 Result: engineering at such companies becomes a service organization - doesn t attract good engineers - engineering isn t engaged in the product 119

120 120

121 3. the PM in a company that doesn t understand the role of Product Management 121

122 Corollary: the PM who reports into Marketing 122

123 Recap - heres what you learned today: 123

124 Rule #1: job hunting makes you smarter - so enjoy it 124

125 on transitions: know very well what you re getting into 125

126 Rule # 2: you don t know what you re getting into unless you ve spoken with 8 people who ve gone through the same thing 126

127 learning about product management: only way to learn is to actually do the job 127

128 Rule # 3: do the job before you get the title, not the other way around 128

129 Rule # 4: MBA!= MBA = 129

130 Rule # 5: best place to position yourself for your next career step is where you are now 130

131 transitions require planning: start 6-12 months before you have to make any transition 131

132 Rule # 6: keep your resume short, show you ve worked on important products, use hooks 132

133 Rule # 7: build credibility even before they ve met you. start a blog 133

134 succeeding in the interview: you now know what to expect prepare & practise 134

135 Rule # 8: join a company that gets prod mgmt, builds good products, has smart engineers 135

136 And finally

137 Once you have landed that dream PM job

138 make great products 138

139 That s all Good luck! 139

140 THE END 140

141 WANT MORE? OKAY

142 hiring for a crucial PM position Stats: # of resumes, # of interviews, results 142

143 4 lessons learned: 143

144 1. hard to know from traditional interviews if someone will actually perform well 144

145 Jason Calacanis The only way to know if someone will do a good job is to watch them do the job 145

146 2. don t use the default interviewing team 146

147 147

148 be sure to include the best PMs from outside your group - esp. those who have no interest in seeing your position filled 148

149 3. don t use the default interviewing process 149

150 150

151 4. candidates who made it a no-brainer for me to decide: rare 151

152 On job hunting makes you smarter : 152

153 corollary: even updating your resume makes you smarter 153

154 tip: update & send out your resume even if you re not looking. response rate will tell you whether you re working on the right projects 154

155 be a user of the product before you apply (easier for web products) 155

156 tips on writing blog posts: 156

157 1. short better than long, but not too short 2. bullets/lists better than paragraphs 3. have an opinion, state it, and don t hedge 157

158 4. don t point out problems without offering solutions 5. don t disparage anyone or anything 6. humor is okay 158

159 on transitions to PM: 159

160 typical transitions into PM: engineering, pre-sales, pro serv, business analyst project/program manager QA, support 160

161 not typical: marketing, biz dev, sales, user experience 161

162 the search: PMs changing verticals 162

163 big transitions: enterprise => consumer internet consumer internet => mobile hardware => enterprise 163

164 smaller transitions: online advertising => social networking => virtualization b2b => casual games 164

165 these transitions are hard 165

166 how to crack the catch-22? 166

167 get the experience you need, where you are now create the change 167

168 Seth Godin Your work is your platform 168

169 e.g. want to go from enterprise to consumer internet? create a web 2.0 aspect for your enterprise product 169

170 can t do - this won t work in my company - they won t let me do anything novel have you tried 7 times? if yes, then just do it outside of work 170

171 the search: do I need an MBA to do product management? 171

172 it will open some doors that may have been closed before but it will not make you CEO-material or even put you on a fast track career 172

173 e.g. no one becomes a bigshot VC or a VP Product right out of business school for that, you have to do something (much) more amazing than just getting into Stanford GSB 173

174 unless... you want to completely change both what you do and where you do it e.g. from being an engineer in tech to PM in consumer packaged goods 174

175 if you do decide to go to business school, have realistic expectations 175

176 look for people who had profiles similar to yours before they went to business school check what job(s) they landed after getting out 176

177 btw, the LinkedIn tip applies to all transitions, not just those to business school 177

178 transitions - summary: 178

179 be sure the transition to PM is for you get the experience that opens doors for you don t let constraints get in the way 179

180 plan well ahead start well before you have to get that next job a transition requires 6-12 months of concerted effort 180

181 finally, expect many rejections don t avoid applying because you ll get rejected be secure about who you are and your talents 181

182 resume: 182

183 don t try to come across as a VP/SVP of Product when you re applying for an individual contributor PM position 183

184 interviewing - summary: 184

185 prepare well & practise 185

186 enjoy the process, no matter how grueling it will show and remember, interviewing makes you smarter - so they are doing you a favor 186

187 the choice: 187

188 some concrete positive signs to look for: 188

189 1. the company understands the importance and the role of product management (go back to Marty s definition) 189

190 2. the company has smart engineers 190

191 3. the company (mostly) has a history of building great products 191

192 4. the hiring manager spends more time talking about the core product, and less talking about stakeholders, reporting, product council reviews, building consensus 192

193 5. the director and VP of product are actually product people. not managers 193

194 6. you respect your prospective peers accomplishments 194

195 7. the specific product you ll work on is super-important for the organization 195